FEAR
A play by Falk Richter
World Premiere
Text and Direction: Falk Richter
What does a family look like in 2015? What can terms like ›origin‹, ›native country‹ and ›home‹ mean in a globalised world? With which new meanings can they be filled? Western societies live in an equal state of fear and activism. Fear is taking root across Europe, reactionary parties are growing in strength, right-wing populism, chauvinism and xenophobia are flourishing. Proponents of simplistic world views are on the up. Hard-fought-for achievements are suddenly being brought into question: the EU is being demonised, the fourth estate defamed as the »gutter press«, sexual and cultural differences are being attacked and what it means to be a man, a woman or a family is being defined in the most one- dimensional terms. In the struggle for gender equality, the institution of marriage in particular is becoming symbolically charged and romanticised by those who defend it as a privilege which is to be denied to certain social groups. A conservative ideal image of a way of life is being conjured up in order to discriminate and socially marginalise. At the same time traditional, normative definitions of belonging, nationality, religion, language, culture, gender and sexual identity seem to be being increasingly abandoned and individually redefined.
Falk Richter’s productions place humankind at the beginning of the 21st century and our ways of feeling, thinking and acting, centre stage. In procedural, experimental rehearsal periods, working with artistic forms of expression such as choreography, performance, classical and electronic music, the writer and director explores the depiction of contemporary western ways of life and emotion on the stage. Bjørn Melhus is one of the most famous video artists in Germany. His work investigates trauma and fear in mass media. For »FEAR« he collaborates with Falk Richter for the second time.
>>> Essay about the production in Pearson's Preview: FEAR and the German Far Right: Conversations with Falk Richter
Set Design: Katrin Hoffmann
Costume Design: Daniela Selig
Music: Malte Beckenbach
Video: Bjørn Melhus
Dramaturgy: Nils Haarmann
Lighting Design: Carsten Sander
Premiered on 25 October 2015
The choreography has been developed in collaboration between Falk Richter, Denis Kuhnert, Frank Willens and Jakob Yaw.
Caution: Strobe lights will be used during this performance.